23 DUIs reported over the holiday

Whether it was because of less than sunny skies, the rising cost of gas or safer and more responsible driving, the Memorial Day holiday weekend was fairly quiet, according to reports from area law enforcement agencies.
“We had a couple DUI arrests, but all in all it was very, very quiet, one of the more quiet Memorial Days that I can remember,” Auburn Police Lt. Scott Burns said Tuesday.
Scott Alford, Auburn Police Department DUI enforcement officer and Placer County Avoid the 7 coordinator, said Tuesday that, during the holiday weekend, area agencies reported 23 DUI arrests, two DUI-related collisions, with one resulting in injury in Placer County.
These numbers are a compilation of reports from five of the seven — California Highway Patrol and the Auburn, Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln police departments — Avoid the 7 agencies and do not include information from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and California State Parks, Alford said.
Kelly Baraga, California Highway Patrol public information officer, said the Auburn-area office responded to 16 collisions between Friday and Monday. No fatalities were reported this weekend, she said, and CHP issued some 200 citations for various violations, from speeding to seatbelt enforcement.
“I would say that, for the most part, traffic wasn’t bad, both on the highways and the service roads,” Baraga said. “I don’t know if it was a combination of the weather and the high fuel costs, but we didn’t have a typical Memorial Day.”
Baraga said CHP responded to only two collisions on Monday, “which is a notorious day.”
One of the more serious incidents of the holiday weekend was a head-on collision that occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday at Sierra College Boulevard near English Colony Way in Rocklin.
Matthew Rustad, 34, of Lincoln, was driving a Toyota Yaris southbound on Sierra College Boulevard when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle drifted into oncoming traffic, striking a Lincoln Town Car driven by Lissa Marks, 54, of Vacaville, Baraga said. Marks and her passenger, Gene Flukey, 41, of Vacaville, were transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center for minor to moderate injuries, and Rustad was taken by AMR Ambulance to Mercy San Juan Hospital for treatment of injuries including a fractured pelvis, punctured lung, and broken ribs, Baraga said.
One of the area’s DUI arrests involved Clifford Palm, Jr., 56, of Citrus Heights, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Saturday night on Interstate 80 near the Eureka Road exit in Roseville. Once taken into custody, Baraga said the Palm allegedly kicked out the right rear window of the patrol car while en route to the Placer County Jail.
Garran Callahan, 26, of Roseville, was transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center after rolling his Toyota Tundra shortly before 8 p.m. Monday. Callahan was reportedly driving under the influence, westbound on King Road, when he veered off the road, hitting pear trees, Baraga said.
These instances aside, Baraga said the holiday weekend was milder than some.
“I think the drivers this weekend did a nice job of keeping the roads safe and if they could just keep that up we can hopefully have a nice, safe summer,” she said.
The Journal’s Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com or comment at auburnjournal.com.